More Pot Than Ever! Hooray!

California's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) has torn up a record 1 million plants this year, some 400,000 more than the previous record, set last year. Attorney General Bill Lockyer celebrated the milestone as evidence of "outstanding interagency cooperation." It might also be evidence that marijuana gardens are getting bigger: With only a few months to go in the year, CAMP's 2005 catch so far includes 405 sites, compared to last year's total of 757. If grow operations are expanding in size, that's not exactly a sign of an industry on the run. And CAMP offers no evidence that its efforts have had an impact on retail prices, which presumably is the whole idea.

[Thanks to California NORML's Dale Gieringer for the tip.]